Practical Language Learning Tips

Whichever language you are learning, there is a native speaker somewhere who is desparate to learn yours. The language exchange is a tried and tested method of getting invaluable practice at speaking and listening. If you live in the country of the language you are trying to learn then it should be pretty simple to find partners via friends or the internet. In your own country you will be surprised as to how many native speakers of your chosen new language are living there, and if you are in a reasonable size town, you should be able to hook up pretty easily. After all, they will be eager to practice your native language. Again, the internet is the way to go here.

Now, having a good exchange partner is a bit like dating. If it is not working after 1 or 2 sessions, then it's best just to drop it and keep looking. Ideally you should get on ok, be able to understand each other's accents and have something to talk about for half an hour or more.

A good language exchange partner, or intercambio as they are known in Spanish, is a valuable resource for learning a language, and you will find it easier to find them if you yourself get a reputation for being a good exchange partner.
After 4 years of living abroad, and many many language exchanges of varying success, here are my tips for getting the most out of the experience.

1. Try to meet regularly to keep up the momentum. Once a week worked for me.
2. Meet in a relatively quite place, so that you can hear each other well. A relaxed café or bar is a good idea.
3. I would say that, depending on your levels, 30-40 minutes each works quite well. Stop before you both get bored or frustrated. This way you are both more likely to want to repeat the experience.
4. Make sure that when it is your half of the time, to actually do lots of speaking. It is easy to sit back and just listen, especially as the other person will be relieved to be speaking in their own language.
5. When it is their turn, encourage them to speak. Keep the conversation going with questions, but don't hog their time by giving a lengthy resume of your week. And talk in a way that is appropriate for their level of your language.
6. Take a pen and paper to note down useful expressions or words. Write down in advance particular grammar points that you just can't seem to understand from your text books. Here is a native speaker! Don't waste this resource.

Over the years I have had many language exchanges and some have become good friends. If you are lucky enough for this to happen then it can lead you to a deeper understanding of both the culture and the language, which is exactly why we are all studying so hard isn't it?

Finding time to practice a new language is hard for most people busy with their day to day lives. If you are going to keep up the momentum to learn, then one 40 minute study session a week is not going to do it. But we all have little 5 minute times throughout the day when we are doing nothing, and if you are prepared you can take advantage and use them to do a bit of studying. I carry a small notebook at all times which serves two purposes. First, I always have written down the latest 10 words or phrases that I want to practice, so when I am on the metro or waiting in line I can pull out my notebook and give them another glance. Secondly, as I live in a foreign country, I use it to straight away write down any unknown words that I see or hear while out and about, so that I can check up on them later. By writing something down you are more likely to remember it later, and once you know the meaning you have an actual real world example to associate it with in your mind. You can also use the notebook to make your shopping lists, in your new language of course.

Here is a Google tip to help you use the internet in your language studies. When I was learning Spanish back in England, I did not have a language exchange partner so I found it difficult to put new words into context. A dictionary will tell you the strict meaning, but not how that word is used in many varied ways in differing circumstances. Try using this Google search trick to get a list of examples of your chosen word or phrase in context.

Pick an online news resource in your chosen language, which you know has good grammar and spelling. I used El Pais newspaper website for my Spanish, but we will use the BBC for this example to make things clear using English examples. The website address of BBC news is http://news.bbc.co.uk/. Using the Google search operator site: we can search only the BBC news website for our chosen word or phrase. So lets say we want to see examples of the word "running" in context, type the following into Google; site:news.bbc.co.uk/ "running". The quotes tell Google that we just want to see the exact word and not any related words such as run, runs or ran.

We now have a list of search results, all containing the word running, all in different contexts. Open up any that look interesting to read the whole story. The first result in my example mentions supplies of ammunition "running low". If we want to go a bit deeper on this particular use of the word running, just search again, but this time for site:news.bbc.co.uk/ "running low", and quickly we have a list of examples of the phrase "running low", all grammatically trustworthy as far as is possible.

The fact that we have searched a news website will mean that there are examples from all sorts of different areas of life. If we had chosen Fisherman's monthly then although the grammar may have been perfect, the variety of context would be a bit limited.

When we speak about learning a second language, it is important to remember that this single objective can be broken down into separate skills. To me there are four basic actions; reading, writing, listening and speaking. Everyone will have their natural strengths and weaknesses among these, and as your learning progresses you will notice that you are jumping ahead in one area but feel like you are making little or no progress in another. This is entirely to be expected and you must not let it discourage you. For instance, I am pretty good at listening and copying accents and phrases, and I like reading as I can take my time and think about the meaning. But speaking for me has always been more difficult (as it is for many people) because it feels like you need at least a reasonable level before it is even worth opening your mouth to try and say something.

Unfortunately it is all too easy to just practice the skills that you are most confident with, and avoid the difficulties of the others. But if you work on your weak areas, you will see that the improvements made will lead to subtle improvements in even your strongest area.

For example practice in speaking could lead to a more natural flow when reading, as you will be more aware of the stress patterns of the language.

If the goal is to speak a foreign language, then the quicker that you can get comfortable speaking it in real situations, the better. For those of us who feel a little self-conscious speaking another language, when you are approaching a real life opportunity to speak your new language, perhaps on holiday, you must give yourself every chance to make it a positive experience rather than a negative one. If you stumble in hoping that the words will just come out, you may be in for a disappointment which makes you wary of trying again next time. Preparation is the key here. Most conversations between strangers follow a pretty standard pattern and by thinking in advance about how the situation could go you will be able to come out the other side with a feeling of accomplishment.

Lets say you are going to eat in a restaurant or book a hotel room. Look up, write down and practice the phrases that will be useful in this situation. "A table for two please". "Could we sit in the smoking section please?". "Which dishes are vegetarian?". "Could you bring us the check please?". Also check the phrases that the other person is likely to say to you so that you can recognise them. "What would you like to drink?". "Coffee or Dessert?" You get the idea. There is no shame in having these written down with you. The idea is to get you talking and listening to a native speaker in a real situation, not to test your memory.